Sending cash via an ‘e-voucher’ is pricey

The handy service offered by banks that enables you to send money to someone without a bank account will cost you, the sender, writes

Most banks offer their customers the facility to send money to someone who doesn’t have a bank account. As long as the recipient has a valid South African cellphone number, he or she can receive payment.

This method of sending someone money is everything the banks say it is – easy, fast and convenient – and you can use just about any channel: your bank’s app, internet banking, cellphone banking or one of your bank’s ATMs. But it will cost you: expect to pay at least R8 per transaction.

Obviously, money can’t be sent to a cellphone; think of it as sending someone a voucher to obtain money from your bank account. First National Bank (FNB) explains it best in describing its eWallet: “eWallet enables an FNB customer to create and fund an electronic store of value from an FNB account, which is accessible to a nominated beneficiary who has a valid South African cellphone number.”

Once you’ve sent the voucher, the recipient gets an SMS with a unique code and/or a number created by you, which they must use to obtain the funds from one of your bank’s ATMs, or from a selected retailer, if your bank has an arrangement with one.

It’s a handy service if the person you want to pay doesn’t have a bank account or doesn’t want money paid into his or her bank account. It’s also useful if you don’t have your bank card on you and you want to draw money yourself.

Whatever your reason for using the service to send money, be mindful of the cost to you.

If you are the recipient of cash sent to you in this way, it doesn’t cost you anything to draw it, but depending on your bank, you have a limited time in which to do so: with some banks, the SMS expires within a couple of hours.

ABSA

✦ Absa’s service is called CashSend. Absa is the only bank that doesn’t charge a flat fee per transaction of this nature. You are charged according to the type of account from which you are paying. if you have a Transact, Mzansi, Mega U or Islamic Youth account, you will pay a flat fee of R7.99 when using an ATM to send, regardless of the value of the transaction. But if you have any other account, you will be charged R7.90 plus R1.30 per R100. So, if you aren’t on an entry-level account, it will cost you R20.90 for a R1 000 transaction. nil. any Absa ATM. you can’t send more than R1 000 at a time. you can’t send more than R3 000 a day, irrespective of the channel you use. 30 days. If the voucher is not redeemed in that period, the funds automatically revert to the source account. 0860 111 123

FIRST NATIONAL BANK (FNB)

✦ FNB’s service is called eWallet.

R9.95 per transaction. nil. any FNB ATM or at selected retailers (so far, only selected Spar stores).

it depends on the channel you use – R1 500 at a time using an ATM or cellphone banking and R3 000 if you send via the app or online.

if you use app or online banking, you can’t send more than R3 000 a day. And if you are using cellphone banking or an ATM to send, the daily limit is R1 500.

four hours. 087 575 9405

NEDBANK

✦ Nedbank’s service is called iMali. R10.50 per transaction up to R1000 and R13.50 for transactions of more than R1000. nil. any Nedbank ATM. you can’t send more than R2 500 at a time. R2 500; no monthly limit. 48 hours. 0860 555 111

STANDARD BANK

✦ Standard Bank’s service is called Instant Money. transaction. R9.95 per nil. any Standard Bank ATM and at selected Spar stores. you can’t send more than R5 000 at a time. R5 000 a day (irrespective of channel); R25 000 a month.

CAPITEC

three years. 0860 466 639 ✦ Capitec does not offer the same service as the “big four” banks. But Capitec customers can send money to other Capitec customers using their cellphone numbers – in other words, without having their bank account details. It costs the sender R1.50 per transaction and the recipient pays for the cost of the SMS notification, which is 40 cents. This facility is available on all channels, except at ATMs. Capitec customers can make payments of up to R5 000 a day using this service, and can send up to R5 000 in one transaction.

For more information, call 0860 102 043.